Civic Type R at the track, goods and bads! Let's share our experience.

[ayau]

More power, more problems.

This weekend I met up with a couple Type R owners at Buttonwillow Raceway.

The main goal was to test how the extra power felt at the track since two of us have bolt-ons and custom tunes.

Ambient temperatures were 60 in the morning and rose to 85 in the afternoon. To get to the point, we found our cars overheating very easily. For my car, we could not get one hot lap before the water temps rose past 235F. This occurred within the very first session at 65F ambient temperature.

One of the Type R’s were completely stock, with only upgraded wheels/tires and a rear sway bar. He overheated after two laps.

So an issue with factory cooling is for sure a problem that gets compounded when you add more power.

Clement Kwong and Raceline USA were putting down hot laps all day with a factory Type R. I’m anticipating what revisions they made to the factory cooling so that we can all stay on the track longer! I only noticed a missing foglight on their Type R, perhaps redirecting airflow, coolant additives…?

A radiator upgrade and oil cooler would also help keep temps at bay.
My number 1 priority is now being directed to cooling. I think GReddy and Koyorad will come into play.

Additionally, talking to USR and their team has been a great benefit. They commented " a grill [will allow] more airflow to the radiator and HPD has followed suit with the same grill for their cars. But like I always say, everything adds up so for track guys anywhere that ambient temps get over 70, or high humidity I recommend the following: Grill with more open air space, turbo blanket, wrapped downpipe and front pipe, gold foil on oil pan, turbo inlet pipe, coolant lines, etc, distilled water with additive, oil cooler."

I have ordered the above mention Front Grill to allow better airflow. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-Civic-10TH-JDM-Type-R-Gloss-Black-Front-Hood-Honeycomb-Mesh-Grill-for-2016/112675216381?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I noticed many track FK8s have the front grill portion cut out for better airflow.

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[jonnys_honda]

I noticed many track FK8s have the front grill portion cut out for better airflow.

Yeah it’s a great idea.

The grill came in!

The badge looks like the same size as the OEM R size. Will get it on soon.

 

[bobafettm]

This is the ebay grill?

 

[jonnys_honda]

This is the ebay grill?

It was purchased on eBay. Same grill for HMA Race Team and United Speed Racing.

 

[bobafettm]

It was purchased on eBay. Same grill for HMA Race Team and United Speed Racing.

Perfect thanks!

 

[ChampwhiteFK8]

Yeah it’s a great idea.

The grill came in!

The badge looks like the same size as the OEM R size. Will get it on soon.

Looks like it's top notch quality, specially for a product coming from eBay. Nice pick up!

 

[lawl]

Looks like it's top notch quality, specially for a product coming from eBay. Nice pick up!

It's nuts that you gotta remove the whole bumper to replace it.

 

[rnh204]

So I took my car to NJMP Thunderbolt yesterday with Jeffapoolza. This is a open track/open passing format with 8 hours of track time and the drivers are instructors, racers or advance solo drivers. By no means am I the fastest driver but I've been doing DE's for 10+years so I know how to toss a car around.

I wasn't sure what to expect hearing all the overheating, fuel cut off, etc issues. I was really impressed by the car. I didn't have any issues overheating, the water temp stayed in the middle or slightly below the middle. The ambient temps were on the cool side, 45-50 degrees. Tire pressure was 35-36 hot.

My car is stock with the exception of the USR turbo blanket and SRF brake fluid. I ended up driving around 80 laps before I had a small off and bent one of my wheels roughly, total driving time 2-2.5 hours. I drove in 30 min increments.

The issues I did encounter was the fuel gauge read out wasn't accurate. After the 1st session, gas tank read ~95%, then 5 mins into the 2nd session, I was down to 1/4 tank. Also experienced momentary loss of power which I assume is due to the fuel flying around, kept the tank full and didn't experience again.

I thought the OEM tires were very sticky for a max summer tire once up to temp, however the sidewalls are definitely soft and the car could use more tire.

Best time of the day was 1:36.14 in the car. For reference in my GT3Rs, PB is 1:32, so 4 seconds slower is amazing considering the CTR is stock.

 

[jonnys_honda]

Several SoCal owners were in attendance for the VTEC Club event this weekend at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.
It was hot in the 90s, a couple of us were suffering from high water temps and heat soaking.
I had an upgraded radiator, and it helped me at least put down two laps before heating up. It helped my car cool down quickly on my cool down laps.
I’m for sure installing an oil cooler next.

Congratulations to my friend @Stig_jdm for placing 1st in his class at the VTEC Club Event (CW Type R).
He also was awarded best time of the day beating out race prepped s2000s and civics that were equipped with full aero and slicks for tires!

 

[lawl]

So you've got the higher flow grill, and upgraded radiator, and the coolant temps were still too high for comfort?

 

[jonnys_honda]

So you've got the higher flow grill, and upgraded radiator, and the coolant temps were still too high for comfort?

Yup, the grill and radiator only delayed the overheating. I have a few more mods to make. I have a turbo blanket, exhaust wrap, and oil cooler to install. May also look into adding baffling to direct more air to the intercooler/rad from the bottom.

 

[lawl]

Yup, the grill and radiator only delayed the overheating. I have a few more mods to make. I have a turbo blanket, exhaust wrap, and oil cooler to install. May also look into adding baffling to direct more air to the intercooler/rad from the bottom.

Nice. Thanks for keeping us posted.

It really looks like it'd be more cost effective from my perspective and my needs to just buy a miata with a roll bar and track that instead

My friend had a built WRX and spent $$$$$ on cooling and never got it to the temp reliability of a basically stock engine s2k. Nature of the turbo beast in Socal I guess.

 

[remc86007]

Thanks for the update! Note to self: don't race in the 90s with my stock R haha

I look forward to hearing if the oil cooler helps. I wonder if an intercooler would help? I'm new to turbo cars, so I don't quite understand the interaction among all the parts as it relates to heat dissipation. My guess is that the intercooler alone, provided it doesn't allow more air to pass to the radiator, won't help cooling because any temp reduction will be offset by the increased power output from the engine generating more heat.

 

[mikee_swoosh]

Nice. Thanks for keeping us posted.

It really looks like it'd be more cost effective from my perspective and my needs to just buy a miata with a roll bar and track that instead

My friend had a built WRX and spent $$$$$ on cooling and never got it to the temp reliability of a basically stock engine s2k. Nature of the turbo beast in Socal I guess.

Just my .02

I was the 3rd Type R at Chuckwalla for the Vtecclubusa event, my car is bone stock, only upgrade is the Eibach lowering springs.
My car did not experience any heat soak or loss of power. The cars temperature stayed at the same level through out the whole
day. i did 4 sessions in the whole day from 9:45 - 3:45. The only downfall of this car is the tires. The stock tires will not help you in
putting down faster times. A good set of wheels and tires could possible knock 3 - 5 seconds on my time.

Take the car out and try for yourself. Every driver is different. I'm having a blast!

 

[lawl]

Just my .02

I was the 3rd Type R at Chuckwalla for the Vtecclubusa event, my car is bone stock, only upgrade is the Eibach lowering springs.
My car did not experience any heat soak or loss of power. The cars temperature stayed at the same level through out the whole
day. i did 4 sessions in the whole day from 9:45 - 3:45. The only downfall of this car is the tires. The stock tires will not help you in
putting down faster times. A good set of wheels and tires could possible knock 3 - 5 seconds on my time.

Take the car out and try for yourself. Every driver is different. I'm having a blast!

hmm... he has hondata, but also a lot of cooling mods. Maybe there are factory freaks in terms of heat generation? (or in keeping cool)

I guess I'll have to roll the dice and take it out once and see what happens...

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